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Magic79 Posted 20 years ago
Vocabulary
liquid vs fluid
Longman dictionary defines liquid (NOUN or adj) as:
[uncountable and countable] a substance that is not a solid or a gas, for example water or milk:
Add a little more liquid to the sauce.
Fluid (NOUN or adj):
[uncountable and countable] technical
a liquid :
He is not allowed solid food yet, only fluids.
a powerful cleaning fluid.
So the question is how would you explain the difference? Is it merely an issue of technical term versus normal usage term? I need more lucid explanation for the two words. A student asked me the difference between them but I could not really discern the difference.
[uncountable and countable] a substance that is not a solid or a gas, for example water or milk:
Add a little more liquid to the sauce.
Fluid (NOUN or adj):
[uncountable and countable] technical
a liquid :
He is not allowed solid food yet, only fluids.
a powerful cleaning fluid.
So the question is how would you explain the difference? Is it merely an issue of technical term versus normal usage term? I need more lucid explanation for the two words. A student asked me the difference between them but I could not really discern the difference.
Top answer
I agree that "fluid" is a more technical term, but they mean the same as nouns. I would use "liquid" as an adjective for a substance - for example, when you get medicine for your children, you can request it in either solid form or liquid form, not fluid form. But if you describe how someone moves, and her she moves very smoothly, you would said she moved fluidly, only liquidly.
- I agree that "fluid" is a more technical term, but they mean the same as nouns.
- I would use "liquid" as an adjective for a substance - for example, when you get medicine for your children, you can request it in either solid form or liquid form, not fluid form.
- But if you describe how someone moves, and her she moves very smoothly, you would said she moved fluidly, only liquidly.
- I also think - Incho, help here - that in physics, a gas is also considered a fluid?
- )
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5 Answers
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I agree that "fluid" is a more technical term, but they mean the same as nouns.
I would use "liquid" as an adjective for a substance - for example, when you get medicine for your children, you can request it in either solid form or liquid form, not fluid form.
But if you describe how someone moves, and her she moves very smoothly, you would said she moved fluidly, only liquidly.
I would use "liquid" as an adjective for a substance - for example, when you get medicine for your children, you can request it in either solid form or liquid form, not fluid form.
But if you describe how someone moves, and her she moves very smoothly, you would said she moved fluidly, only liquidly.
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fluids=liquids + gases + (plasmas)
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A fluid is defined as a substance that continually deforms (flows) under an applied http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shear_stress regardless of the magnitude of the applied stress. It is a subset of the
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A fluid is defined as a substance that continually deforms (flows) under an applied http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shear_stress regardless of the magnitude of the applied stress. It is a subset of the
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Good to know my memory isn't completely shot. In physics, fluids do comprise both liquids and gases.
But outside the classroom, 99% of the people will think of a fluid as a liquid.
But outside the classroom, 99% of the people will think of a fluid as a liquid.
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Then I realize, the term "coal liquification" was only an analogy, meaning 'coal fluidification'.
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